


Five Plus One - One

by skargasm



Series: Five Plus 1 [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:15:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24521467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skargasm/pseuds/skargasm
Summary: Derek calls in a favour which brings Peter and Stiles into first contact...
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes
Series: Five Plus 1 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771330
Comments: 32
Kudos: 508
Collections: One Million Words





	Five Plus One - One

”No.”

“But I haven’t even asked you yet!” 

“I don’t care – the answer is no!”

“Stiles – I don’t want you to look at this as me calling in a favour but – okay, fine, this is me calling in a favour!”

“Derek, you are such an asshole!” Finally relenting, Stiles stood back and let Derek into his apartment. Making his way to the kitchen, he automatically put the coffee on, knowing Derek drank almost as much of it as he did. “What is it?”

“Have I told you just how much I respect you as a photographer?”

“Derek – the time for kissing my ass is over and one with! Just tell me what I need to do.”

* * *

“No favour is worth this.” Stiles walked up to the reception desk and checked out the name-tag of the beyond perky woman working there. “Hi, Kira? My name is Stiles Stilinski – I’m expected.”

“You are? I mean – yes, you are! Are you the replacement photographer?”

“Yep, that’s me – for my sins.”

“Well, if it helps, he’s had lunch and already chewed out three interns – he should be in a relatively good mood.” Stiles felt his brows rise to his hairline before he simply nodded. He added it to the information he already had and accepted that his afternoon was going to suck. He stood, tapping his fingers on the counter as Kira made a call. “Hi, Erica? Yeah – the replacement photographer turned up just like Derek promised. No – I’m not going to ask him that! What? Okay, fine – I’ll ask him _that_ ”

Kira put her hand over the receiver and looked up at Stiles. 

“Um – I’m meant to ask you if you require an assistant lamb to the slaughter or whether you can face the lion alone?”

“I think I can handle one asshole on my own, thanks!” Kira gasped at his reply before giving a giggle and repeating it down the phone. “Okay, well – take the elevator to the penthouse – you’ll be met by Mr Hale’s Executive Assistant, Ms Reyes, who will show you where to go from there.”

“Thanks very much.” Giving a casual salute, Stiles followed her directions to the elevator, very conscious of the fact that Kira was still discussing him with Erica. The ride up was smooth and if it wasn’t for the fact that he knew he had a tedious afternoon ahead of him, he would have been in quite a good mood. He blamed Derek 110% for all of this – this wasn’t returning a favour, this was Derek owing him big-time! 

A stunning blonde woman was waiting for him when he got out of the elevator.

“Well, hello! Derek said he was calling in a favour but he didn’t say you were going to look quite so yummy!”

“Um – photographer, not snack?”

“Oh honey, I would make you a whole damned meal!” She stuck out her hand, grinning and he grinned back and shook it firmly. “Okay, Batman, this is how it’s going to. We **need** a full spread for the magazine, but we also need something we can use for the back cover of his book. He’s pissed because he thinks we should use stuff we have on file but he’s _way_ older now so that seems like false advertising.”

“I heard that Erica!”

“You were meant to, Boss-man!” She turned back to Stiles. “His bite **is** as bad as his bite, but I’m gonna be honest with you? I think the kind of bite he’s going to want to take out of you isn’t going to hurt unless you want it to!” 

“Have I entered an alternate universe or something?”

“You brought the special lenses, right?” Stiles nodded. His invention of lenses that mitigated the glare from werewolf eyes was how he and Derek had met in the first place. He’d made enough money from the patent to pay for college and give him a **very** decent nest-egg, which was why he took the jobs he wanted to nowadays. Unfortunately, Derek had been one of his guinea-pigs through various photographic experiments, hence the huge favour owed. “That’s part of why he’s being such a complete dick – no one so far has been able to capture anything useable – I mean, I’ve used those lenses and they make this so much easier, but the photographers we’ve had have been completely incompetent! I got some shots of Boyd mid-flash that were – “

“ERICA! Stop telling your porn stories on company time! Can we get this over with please? I have better things to do with my time than this shit!” Shouldering his bag, Stiles followed the sound of the voice, coming to a halt in the doorway of a luxurious office.

“Oh, Derek, you are such a dick!” he muttered under his breath, taking in the man seated behind the desk. Thick unruly, hair that someone had attempted to tame; smooth-shaven, sensual lips and a thickly-muscled neck that made Stiles want to take a bite. As far as Stiles could see, he was dressed completely in black, the opening of his shirt framing his throat. It made Stiles’ fingers itch to get his cameras out. 

“Why is Derek a dick?”

“Because he knew as soon as I saw you, that I’d want to take your picture. And I stopped taking photos of dickheads a long time ago.”

“You can go, Erica – this one might be okay.”

Stiles turned and realised he had completely forgotten the woman had been with him. Dumping his bag, he grabbed the first camera he wanted to use – candid shots, while he figured this guy out would be best.

“Are you always this rude?” he asked as he began to snap some quick shots.

“Yes – it comes with being a rich asshole. Do I need to move from behind the desk?”

“I’ll tell you where I want you.”

“That sounds – promising.” Stiles focused on his face for a moment, realising that his subject hadn’t even introduced himself. Cocky bastard.

“Promising – don’t get ahead of yourself. You may be pretty but I gave up on assholes for Lent.”

“Lent is well and truly over, and one should never give up on anything – who knows what treasure you might discover?” 

“Are you trying to say that you’re a treasure?” He walked around the desk, snapping furiously as he did so. Without asking permission, he shoved the paperwork in front of the asshole out of the way so that he could perch on the edge of the desk. Close-up, those eyes were even more stunning, a hint of alpha-red in them. He made quick adjustments to compensate.

“Well, I don’t know about being a treasure, but I am an asshole worth exploring.”

“And here was me thinking alphas didn’t offer it up quite so casually.”

“So you know enough to know that I’m an alpha?”

“I probably know more than you realise.” He leaned forward, getting up close and personal. The fine-grain of asshole’s skin showed up beautifully in the shot and he nodded his head in satisfaction. “For example, I know that despite the lack of introduction, you’re Peter Hale. I know that your sister, Talia, is the head of your Pack and that you were exiled out here to Beacon Hills when you killed an alpha who attacked your home; I know that you think Beacon Hills is a backwater town that isn’t deserving of your many, many talents despite the presence of a Nemeton; I read your latest book on wolves coming out and am pretty sure you must have had a ghostwriter because no one who writes that sensitively could _be_ such an asshole – how am I doing so far?”

“You are becoming more and more intriguing.” Peter tilted his head, giving Stiles an assessing look. “How do you know quite so much about me and mine?”

“If you paid as much attention to detail as you do to the fit of your trousers – very nice by the way – you could probably figure that out without me having to spoon-feed it to you.” Stiles pushed up from the desk and whirled away, going to his bag to grab another memory card. “Grab that stool and bring it over here, will you?”

“Do I look like a photographer’s assistant to you?” Peter sounded lazily offended, but in spite of his words, he did as instructed, easily carrying the barstool to the centre of the room. 

“Sit – do I have to tell you everything? Lean over to the side and play with your neck – yeah, that’s good.”

“You do know we’re not shooting werewolf porn, right? The neck is a very sensitive area for werewolves.” Stiles snorted.

“Really? I would never have known.” He deliberately stretched his neck from side-to-side, gratified when Peter’s gaze narrowed in with laser-sharp focus. Now that was going to be a gorgeous picture. Stiles knew that his long, pale neck dragged out certain instincts in werewolves – he’d been told it often enough. But there was something a little more satisfying in making Peter look at him _that_ way than the meat-heads who normally propped up the clubs and bars. Peter did not appear to be the type to be easily distracted.

“Very clever! Do try to be aware that my sister will be seeing these shots – I would rather that she not become intimately acquainted with my ‘o’ face ever again.”

“Again? Sounds to me like there’s a story there – tilt your head the other way.”

“You’d have to earn that story.”

“What, on my hands and knees? Or would you prefer to see me on my knees?” The look Peter gave him that time was scorching and Stiles captured just a hint of fang in that image. 

“How does my nephew know you again? He rarely knows interesting people.”

“I object to that statement.” The disembodied voice was slightly tinny but the humour in the tone came through loud and clear.

“Erica – stop listening in on the intercom.” Stiles snorted again, moving around Peter to get images from each angle. 

“Derek and I go _way_ back.” Peter’s face shuttered off and Stiles lowered his camera, disappointed. “Not like that, you asshole. Derek is far too inhibited for me – he likes to be in control of things whereas I’m more of a seat of the pants kinda guy.”

“I’d like to see a little more of the seat of your pants.”

“Boring – I’ve heard better chat up lines in clubs.”

“That wasn’t a chat up line – that was me deciding if I’ll need to put in any effort whatsoever to rip through the seam of those jeans – they’re barely holding together as it is.”

“You should see my disreputable jeans – these are the smart ones.”

“Well I’m glad you dressed up for the occasion.” 

“I think you would _far_ rather I dress down.”

“Do I get to know your name? Or should I just call out ‘oh God’ at appropriate times?”

“Presumptuous. And the name is Stiles.”

“No parent gives their child the name Stiles.” Stiles shrugged, efficiently switching his cameras over. 

“That’s the only name I’m giving you – use it or not, it doesn’t bother me.” Finished fiddling, he stood directly in front of Peter. “Do the alpha eye thing for me.”

“It’s not a party-trick, Stiles!”

“Duh! Now – let me see those ruby peepers of yours – come on, big guy, show me what a big, tough alpha gaze looks like.” Stiles gasped when Peter stared directly down the lens, eyes a stunning, jewel-bright red. It was an intense shot, made more so by the way that Peter licked his lips and dropped his hand into his lap as he stared at Stiles. “Now **that** shot belongs in a skin-mag! I can just imagine the o-faces you’d cause if we released that one.”

“Not planning on releasing it?”

“That one is for my personal spank-bank.” Another intense shot. God, he might actually OWE Derek a favour after this one. It might actually be time to get out of here before he did something he might regret. He hadn’t been lying when he told Peter earlier that he had given up on assholes – dating Ethan had been enough to teach him more than a few lessons.

When Derek had explained that he needed Stiles to take care of his uncle, this wasn’t quite what he had been expecting. Everyone knew the story of how Peter Hale had saved his family from being burned alive in their home, killing the alpha and Darach responsible for surrounding it in mountain ash in order to prevent their escape. Unfortunately, he and his sister were unable to establish dominance and for his troubles, he had been sent to take care of the Beacon Hills territory. It sucked that his reward effectively exiled him from his Pack, and he had sunk into a slight depression. 

Of course, from that depression had come two best-sellers and a non-fiction masterpiece, but still – not exactly the kind of reward anyone wanted, let alone a new alpha attempting to gain control over his powers and forced away from everyone and everything that was familiar. Talia and Peter were still in the process of deciding which members of the Pack would remain with her in New York and who would settle in Beacon Hills, but in the meantime Derek was concerned that Peter was lonely and in danger of doing something reckless. Stiles doing the photo-shoot was meant to be one less aggravation that Peter had to put up with.

“You know – the Hales aren’t the only wolves in Beacon Hills.”

“And that should interest me why?” Once again, Peter’s face became shuttered but Stiles persevered.

“Just wondering if it’s elitism that’s behind your refusal to assist the supernatural community here or just ignorance.”

“Call it ignorance. Just what good can I do here?”

“Maybe it’s time you got off your ass and found out.”

“That sounds far too much like hard work.” Despite his attempt to remain stoic, Stiles could see that Peter was holding on to a lot of pain. He got the feeling there was even more to the story than Derek had let on and tried not to let the idea intrigue him. He knew he was failing – his Dad always told him that his curiosity would get him into trouble. 

“You got a raw deal from doing something good – poor you. Life hasn’t ended just because you’ve had to leave New York. Or are you too spoiled to realise that?”

“Why sweetheart, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you actually gave a shit. What the fuck do you know about what I’ve given up?” For just a moment, Stiles saw beneath the urbane exterior to the pain beneath the surface. But that way led danger and he cursed Derek for knowing him far too well. Peter Hale was just the kind of mystery that the old Stiles would have loved to try to decipher.

“Nothing. You’re absolutely right – sit here in your ivory tower and bemoan the shitty fate life has dealt you.”

Abruptly packing up his cameras, Stiles turned back to Peter. 

“I’ll send the images to Derek. Track me down if you get bored of hiding.” Without giving Peter a chance to reply, Stiles stalked out of the room. The elevator doors were already closing when he saw Peter had come to the door of his office and was watching Stiles.

* * *


End file.
